What does academisation really mean?

[crapacademy]

14th May ? My 9 year old daughter is worrying about the year 6s sitting their SATs ? ?Mum, if they don?t do well we?ll all be in trouble!?

Why does a 9 year old think this? Because we as a school have spent the year under the impression that we absolutely have to reach at least floor standard (for the first time in 5 years) and so SATs have suddenly become a huge focus. Undeniably standards were well below where they should have been and action needed to be taken, but is the answer really to focus so much on a test and pile pressure on 11 year olds, not to mention the knock on effect to those lower down the school? Unfortunately for us the ?quick fix? method, ie a year of teaching to the test, appeared the only option to ensure the long term survival of our school.

What my 9 year old doesn?t know is that school will be made an academy anyway ? this much was revealed to the school a couple of months back. Teachers and children will leave ? many are already looking for alternative jobs and schools. At this point we have no idea of our sponsor and are only vaguely aware of the wrangling taking place between the relevant authorities. For the authorities this is a business decision, they do not wave off my 9 year old every morning in the knowledge that her safe little world that she loves is about to change beyond recognition. They leave their business at their desk at the end of the working day, it is my daughter who will be losing sleep over the loss of class mates and teachers. Whatever happens, my sensitive 9 year old will be devastated. She either has to sit back and watch friends and teachers who she cares about leaving the school, or she has to leave the school herself, either way, this is going to have a huge impact on her primary years. Not to mention her belief that the incredibly hardworking year 6 class will have ?failed? ? an opinion which in reality will be far from the truth. This years year 6 will have produced stunning results, well in excess of floor standards.

My difficult choice as a parent:-

a) Do I sit this through, with all the good staff leaving and inevitable upheaval and changes in staffing with no realistic guarantees of quality? A 9 year old who is particularly aware of and reactive to weak teaching is not going to cope well with this option.

b) Do I find another school, knowing that in our authority we are just the first of many schools to tread this path? An enormous change for a 9 year old and not one that guarantees good quality education

c) Do I find £15000 to fund private school for a year or two? Not a realistic option even though my husband and I are both professionals, and certainly not an option open to the vast majority of other families, many of whom are on benefits.

d) Do I home educate for the next year or so until secondary, making the secondary transition a harder process than it needs to be and impacting on my family life and requiring a big change in my relationship with my daughter.

And all this forced upon my hardworking, tax paying family unit, by government ministers who have very little real understanding of state education.

But forget politicians, teachers, governors, even parents, IS THIS REALLY FAIR ON A 9 YEAR OLD GIRL?

But CA - what sort of teachers would allow so many children to fail year after year and only try to do something about the situation when prodded by Ofsted?

It seems that the atmosphere in the school is hysterical and febrile and this is rubbing off on the kids. Why would the poor children be held responsible for improving the SATs results?

Sounds as if a new Management might change the whole ethos of the school.

Erm, who mentioned OFSTED? I talked about the DfE, not Ofsted. Actually, at our last Ofsted school was graded good, yes, really! Our results were showing an upward trend, but still below floor. Had a disastrous year last year for a whole complexity of reasons.

what is floor level? Does that mean satisfactory on all accounts?

MoreThan - What are the KS2 floor targets? A school is underperforming if fewer than 60% of pupils achieve level 4+ in English and maths, and pupils make below-average progress in English and maths.

There is, however, a very spurious relationship between being 'below floor target' and being forced to become an academy, as crapacademy's situation illustrates.

It's hardly a spurious relationship when you consider the hundreds of children who have been let down over the past decade. The implications of this culture of underachievement for some of these children will be horrendous.

IndigoBell, thank you. Can I please ask what is considered as below average progress in English and Maths.
Sorry to change subject, but while I'm here does a school get more Ofsted inspections if judged as satisfactory, I'm sure ours has had them each year recently. Its good/outstanding at the moment though. Also do V.A church schools have exemption from publishing results as I can't find them?

But the point is, again, that this 'culture of underachievement' has already been turned around (as it should). Indications for this year (based on practise papers) are that well in excess of 80% will have achieved the required standards. Becoming an academy is not in order to bring this about, it's already happening! The academy conversion has created a real sense of uncertainty that is actually endangering the improvements.

allchildrenreading, my point was that it isn't necessary for a school to be below 'floor target' for it to be forced into becoming a sponsored academy.

morethanpotatoprints, I think that 'expected progression' is a whole level per year in KS1 and 2 sub-levels per year in KS2. The % of children who achieve this vary year to year, it's somewhere between 80-90%.

Hence, crapacademy's school is looking like it will be above the minimum expected % children achieving E & M level 4 (60%) and with around the average number of children making expected progress. So, not below the 'floor target'.

I think crapacademy's point is that the school has had the capacity to achieve these improvement within its current governance structure ie it has, so what is the purpose of forcing a change in governance at this point?

So, academisation three months on and where are we?

We are losing three teachers ? two excellent, one less so.

SATs results? You know, the challenge we were given at the start of the academic year, to improve or be turned into an academy? Well, let?s just say, we are a good 25% above last years floor in our weaker subject and combined, and further above in our stronger subject. Level 5s shown distinct improvement but still a little below National Average. However, the staff team that identified the gaps in learning and worked incredibly hard to plug them are leaving. Who cares? Not the LEA, not the proposed sponsor, and definitely not the DfE.

What will September look like? At this point we don?t even have teachers for all classes, so who?s to say there will be children to fill them? Some very committed volunteers worked very hard to convince the parent body, in spite of significant reservations, that this move was in the schools best interests. But, three months on, those volunteers feel let down, deserted and have been made to feel like ?liars?.

So, the necessary improvement has begun strongly, with a massive improvement of over 50% in each important SATs statistic. Will the DfE be rewarding us as one of Englands most improved schools? Will there be anyone left to reward?

Please will someone explain what this madness is actually intended to achieve? Because right now the only thing it is achieving is the likelihood that this school will face closure.